


she's got both feet on the ground (and she's burning it down)

by Valkyrees



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: :P, Dragons, F/F, Magic, Plants, andrea is a succubus, anywho, except dragons, except with a saddle because she's civilized, gorgons, heart in the comments if u read the tags, here's the monster au i kept talking about, is this all just a rewrite of american dragon?, lena flies on kara like she's daenerys on drogon, magic and magical creatures are pretty integrated into society, no one really likes gorgons, oh lena also has a greenhouse, some alpha/beta dragon dynamics, they love gorgons, you bet it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:09:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25998043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrees/pseuds/Valkyrees
Summary: -Lena's never particularly had athingfor dragons.Everyone is always head-over-fucking-heels for them, though, like seeing a dragon walk by is the equivalent of meeting 2006 Gerard Way. But Lena grew up living with them, so a large part of theirmythicalcharm is sort of lost on her. She knows underneath the fire-breathing and shiny scales and award-winning smiles, there's just the irrefutable fact that they're all a bunch of massive dorks: they're ridiculouslyshyand they make bad jokes, and have gorgeous curly hair and too-big eyes, and rose-colored lips that look terribly fucking soft.Ugh, fine, so maybe she does have a thing foronedragon.OR,au; kara's a shapeshifting dragon, and lena's a gorgon who happens to be in love with her
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 204
Kudos: 1424





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a long time ago on tumblr i talked a bunch about a monster fic, and then i sort of forgot about it. THEN, quite randomly, i had some motivation to finally put some words on the screen. I'm not sure if this is anyone's thing, but I'm having fun writing it and m'glad to share it with y'all. thanks so much to those of you that blindly click on new story emails from me lol, and a special thanks to those of you always leaving feedback <3333 there's so much love in my heart for you.
> 
> i'll keep this short instead of rambling on, for those actually reading it, and leave it off with saying thanks for clicking/giving the story a chance! hope you enjoy at least a little bit!!
> 
> song title from girl on fire by alicia keys
> 
> I'm on [TUMBLR](https://valkyrieskwad.tumblr.com/) and [TWITTER](https://twitter.com/VaIkyrieSquad). Come hang out with me!
> 
> <3

Lena's never particularly had a _thing_ for dragons.

Everyone is always head-over-fucking-heels for them, though, like seeing a dragon walk by is the equivalent of meeting 2006 Gerard Way. But Lena grew up living with them, so a large part of their _mythical_ charm is sort of lost on her. She knows underneath the fire-breathing and shiny scales and award-winning smiles, there's just the irrefutable fact that they're all a bunch of massive dorks:

They're ridiculously shy, and they make bad jokes and laugh too loud, and they’re always showing up to Lena's greenhouse looking cute and asking questions, like it's acceptable for them to just _do_ that.

Okay, fine, so maybe she's talking about one dragon, in particular, and not _all_ dragons, but her larger point is that—

_God._

She lost the point.

She lost it the second she glanced up from examining the infestation on her plant stems and saw Kara Danvers fiddling with the potted gazanias next to the greenhouse door. Kara Danvers, who happens to be the _one_ dragon Lena was talking about, the one she can't seem to get rid of, the one she spends all her time either thinking about or _trying not to think about_. Kara Danvers, That One Dragon who happens to have gorgeous curly hair and bright blue eyes, and rose-colored lips that look terribly fucking soft.

Lena probably shouldn't stare, but she's never been very good at stopping herself when it comes to Kara. Her brain just, _shuts off_ every time she looks at her, and it takes a few seconds for it to reboot, for her to locate where she packed away her logic and reason and maybe start to piece together coherent sentences again. This is all to say that Kara's _seriously_ becoming a problem.

"What are you doing here?" Lena finally asks, telling herself _don't smile don't smile don't smile_. It's not working, she can already feel the corners of her mouth twitching up. "I'm a little busy today."

Kara stands up from where she was prodding her finger in the plant soil, wipes her hand on her pants, and smiles. "I thought of a joke," she says, folding her arms over her black _Siouxsie and the Banshees_ t-shirt. "I also thought you might want to hear it, since it's like, about _plants_."

Lena knows it'll be dumb, but still, she gestures in front of her and says, "Well, if you came all this way."

"Don't be so stiff about it, know you're gonna love it," Kara prefaces, turning to thumb the leaf of a phalaenopsis orchid Lena's nursing back to health. Part of Lena wants to jump in and tell her _don't_ touch it, since she's a little protective of that particular plant: found it a few months ago completely neglected and reduced to what looked like a dried-up tangle of dead roots. But Kara's so fucking gentle in everything she does, that all Lena can do is stare at her tan skin, feel embarrassed about how hard her heart is fluttering, and repeat a thousand times in her mind that she actually needs to figure out a _solution_ for her aphid problem. "She's really coming along, isn't she?" Kara asks. "I mean, I knew she was hardy, but _wow_. You should name her like, _Andrea_ or something. For strong."

"I have a friend named Andrea, so that's a little weird," Lena comments.

"Oh," Kara says, like _that's_ a reason to blush. "Well, I bet she's really strong, then."

Lena rubs the back of her hand over her mouth. It is _truly_ a herculean effort to stop herself from smiling. "The joke?"

"Right," Kara says, clapping her hands together in front of her, positively beaming even though she hasn't said anything yet. "Alright, so here it is." There's a pause, then she asks, "How do succulents confess their feelings?" red splotching across her cheeks like her self-worth is attached to the world's worst punchline managing to land.

Lena's already smiling, she can't help it. "How do they?"

" _Aloe_ you very much," Kara giggles. Her entire face lights up as she says it, and Lena hates that she actually _laughs_. She hates how soft she feels in Kara's presence, like her heart is just ice cream ready to be scooped out and offered up nice and neat on a cone. Lena's not _just another gorgon_ with a _thing_ for dragons. She refuses to let herself fall into that category. She can control her magic enough to date _anyone_ she wants, not only the creatures immune to her stare. "I told you you'd love it."

"It was alright," Lena says, nibbling her lip, willing herself to focus her eyes on her plants again.

"But you laughed," Kara points out.

"I always laugh. It's a polite thing to do, isn't it?" Lena asks. Kara just snorts in response, though, and Lena has to grit her teeth to stop another smile from spreading. It's getting a little ridiculous. "Did you come here just to tell me a joke you could've texted for the same response?"

"No, I wanted to check in on the orchid. I wanted to see _you_ , too. Thought the joke was an added bonus." Lena frowns and looks up, sighing as she watches Kara's eyes flicker between colors, shimmering in the light like she can't choose an emotion. She hates that about Kara—that she's always so earnest and sincere, that she wears all three of her hearts on her sleeve, that it's _so_ obvious what she feels and thinks and wants and _wants to hide_ but can't. "Right," Kara sighs back a few seconds later. Her eyes just land on their normal blue, then darken like a murky lake. She's purposely being unreadable, so Lena looks down again. "It's _okay_ if you like a dragon, you know?"

"But, I don't," Lena says fast.

"But you _always_ laugh," Kara points out again, and Lena... hates that she's right. "Are you hungry?"

"I could eat," Lena admits.

"Cool, I know a really good vegan place," Kara says, and Lena can tell she's smiling again, which means _she's_ fighting to not smile again, and.

She hates that, too. 

-

If someone were to create a magical creature totem pole, dragons would be at the top, obviously, but gorgons would probably be somewhere _behind_ it, like the unwanted stepchild of the community that they've grown to be.

The worst part is that's it's not even unwarranted, like, objectively, they _do_ sort of give magic a bad name. But, in their defense: it was never a good idea to tie an instant-death-stone-turning ability to emotion or _eyesight_ , and make it near-fucking-impossible to control. So, instead of blaming gorgons for shit, everyone should probably point their fingers at The Creator.

But they _won't._ So instead, gorgons have to live in the shadow of dragons.

It's a little bit humiliating.

As in, the entire magical community has somehow burned through their hatred of gorgons and landed somewhere a thousand times worse: pure, honest-to-god _pity_ , because _bless those brave dragons trying to rescue those poor creatures_.

The thing is, though, gorgons almost certainly would have been killed off hundreds of years ago if it _weren't_ for dragons. They really stepped up when no one else would, and it's not that Lena isn't grateful for it, or thankful for it, or like she doesn't wake up every day to a statue of the Great Dragon outside her window, but she's _tired_ of the worship. She appreciates the support and protection and integrated communities and _kindness_ , but she hates that she was raised to view them on the level of gods, when. They're not. They're very nice and very lovely, and even very humble, but Lena doesn't _need_ them. She doesn't always need them around, or need their help, or need them shielding her. She _can_ do it on her own.

Needless to say, there's a not-insignificant amount of shame and guilt attached to the fact that the times she's best at controlling her magic just so happen to coincide with the times she's hanging out with Kara.

It's not fair. It feels good to feel safe, feels good to know she can't hurt the person she's hanging out with. It feels _good_ hanging out with dragons because they've spent centuries making gorgons a part of _their_ culture, and it's such a fucking relief to be accepted on that level that it's hard to separate out the gratitude from anything else.

Maybe the most frustrating part of the entire thing, is that Kara understands that. She _gets_ it, and she tries to be better, and she's making it really hard for Lena to stick to her no-dragon-dating plan.

"It's called an Impossible burger," Kara explains, taking another bite, mustard spilling out messily down her lip. She licks it off, then says, "I read this article a year ago about the rise of like, not-meat meat replacement products, and how this is the first time it's been _not offensive_. It's not the best burger in the world, but it's good enough to make you _believe_ it's meat and not plants."

"Yeah, there was that one Burger King commercial, I remember," Lena says, sliding her bun off to squeeze more ketchup on. It _is_ surprisingly convincing, even in how it looks and the way it chews and how it tastes. But she's sure if you slap enough condiments on anything, it all starts to taste the same eventually. "So, what's up? You're only this nervous when you have something you want to talk about."

"There's nothing," Kara lies, but Lena knows her better than that.

The last time she got this flustered, she was telling Lena she applied for Companion training. Which, now that Lena thinks about it, is probably what today is about, too. "You should be getting your Companion qualification soon, right?"

"I got it a few days ago," Kara admits, shifting like she's uncomfortable. Lena knows what she's going to say next, but for some reason, she's stuck, frozen, watching Kara clear her throat like a train wreck she can't stop off in the distance. "And, well, okay. You're right. I wanted to see you today to ask if it was maybe okay for me to request to be... _your_ Companion?"

"I don't _need_ one," Lena says, rather than give a straight answer. Kara doesn't frown necessarily, but Lena sees her eyes darken, and. She's torn. Having a Companion feels like it goes against everything she's worked for in her life. She's spent so much time figuring out ways to push her emotions beneath the surface, to _not_ let them control her, to be as stable as she possibly can be, and she's gotten _good_ at it. She never wants to be reliant on a dragon again, and even having the _option_ put in front of her feels bad, but. The thought of Kara asking any other _gorgon_ to be their Companion also makes her stomach twist in knots, like she just might vomit out her plant-burger. "Can I think about it?"

"Of course, you can," Kara assures her. She looks somewhere between tense and relieved, and Lena just wants to switch the topic to something that makes them _both_ lean towards the latter. Thankfully, Kara seems to be having the same thought. "So, um. Do you have a plan for what you want to do next with the greenhouse? I'd love to hear it."

"Yeah, I have a bunch," Lena gushes, just happy to follow the conversation far away from where they were. 

It starts raining as soon as they leave the restaurant. It's just a drizzle at first, but the sky darkens shortly into it, and water starts coming down in sheets, sloshing thick against their skin as they try to walk along the street. So they decide to cut through the forest, somewhat shielded by the thicket of trees overhead. They spend a few minutes just moving in silence, close enough to touch, but not touching, the patter of the rain becoming a backdrop for whatever they're both thinking but trying hard not to talk about.

Lena's just about to suggest something neutral for conversation when a loud crack of thunder shatters through the trees. She startles a bit, from the suddenness of it, but Kara flinches hard enough to _knock into_ Lena, then she jerks away fast and looks over her shoulder. It's dark, Lena can barely see her face, but she doesn't need to to know that Kara's scared. She can see her breathing faster, twisting her hands together hard enough her arms are flexing. She can see Kara's shirt expanding around her shoulders, shifting and stretching like Kara's so worked up that she's about to _change_. Lena doesn't know why, maybe instinct, but she finds herself grabbing Kara's hand before she even realizes she's reaching for it. "Hey, don't shift. It's just thunder. We're okay. We'll be safe."

"I don't like storms," Kara says in a very calm, very quiet voice, the skin on her neck rippling, becoming scaley and reflective.

Lena squeezes her hand tighter and pulls down, stops them from walking. " _Hey_ ," she emphasizes, "I said we're—"

She cuts off when a loud sound that's _not_ thunder cracks from on side of them. Then three things happen in the next three seconds: the first is Kara shifting enough that she lets out an honest-to-god _growl_ , the second is Lena snapping her head towards the sound... and the third is there suddenly being a _stone_ deer standing right in front of them.

Fuck.

When Lena looks back to Kara, Kara's eyes are completely blacked out and her face is distorting, so Lena falls forward and wraps her arms around her waist, presses her face to where Kara's rain-soaked shirt is stretching over her hardening chest and tries to keep her breathing slow to let her know she's _calm_. They should both be calm. "It's okay, we're okay. I can control it. It was an accident. I think we're both just a little jumpy."

Kara just grunts. Her vocal cords have shifted, probably, and Lena can sense she's only a second or two away from full form, so she hugs her even tighter to tell her _don't_. From there, it only takes a minute for Kara to finally start to calm, skin softening underneath Lena's hands more and more until she's fully regressed. Lena can even hear the pitch of her voice changing in the hiss of her breathing. "I'm sorry, _god_ , m'sorry," she rushes out when she's finished changing back, body shaking against Lena. "I don't know what it is about storms. I just, I can't help it."

She wraps her arms over Lena's shoulders and nuzzles in her hair. Lena spends at least twenty seconds being lost in the warmth of her, in the rhythmic thumping of her heartbeats, before she reasons it's probably a good idea to _move_. "It's okay, it happens," she finally says, disentangling from the hug, taking a step back, but staying close enough for Kara to keep her hand. "We should talk about it, though, maybe?"

"Okay."

They stand in the dark together, just breathing for a second, and when they've both calmed down enough, Lena offers, "I'm fine with you flying us home, but only if you're in control when you shift."

"Okay," Kara says again, then she takes a deep, deep breath and says, "I think I can do that."

Lena doesn't know why she offered—maybe because she's cold or too wet, or because it's been a while since she's seen someone older than a fledgling in full form—but once Kara gets them in a clearing and shifts, Lena's a bit awed by the size of her. Even more, she's a little terrified that she's actually supposed to get _on_. But she tells herself it'll just be a short flight, takes several long, calming breaths, then she climbs up using Kara's wing to steady herself. She takes another deep breath when she's settled on top of Kara, lets her body rest against the hardness of Kara's scales, hugs her thighs tight around Kara's neck, and hooks her hands around the ridge above her that she can get the most grip on.

Once she's as secure as she can get herself, she feels Kara start to move, finally, muscles flexing underneath scales underneath _Lena_ , body contracting as she prepares to take flight.

Lena's not quite sure _what_ she expected, but the take-off is scarier than she could have imagined. Her stomach lurches with the sudden jerk of being thrust off the ground, and then it knocks the air clear out of her when she slides a little, when Kara has to tilt so she doesn't fall off because everything is _too fucking slippery_ for her to _actually_ feel settled.

But once Kara's gotten them evened out in the air it gets marginally better. It's a little turbulent and little stiff and ice-fucking-cold from the wind and rain, but Lena relaxes into it as much as she can, learning how to flex with the bumps and predict them. The worst part, though, comes when they're _landing_. She can't even _see_ what's down below them, really, but her stomach drops hard when they start to dip through the air. It's such a _big_ shift that by the time they actually hit the ground again, she slides off Kara's neck and immediately feels her dinner bubbling up in the back of her throat. Then, a second later, she's hunched over and it's spilling out of her.

"It's normal to throw up," Kara comforts, holding Lena's hair back as she bends over some bushes. "It's hard to be steady without a saddle, but it's also rough the first time in general. You get used to it the more you do it, though, I've heard."

"I don't know if this'll be my thing," Lena coughs, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand, finally feeling the nausea subside enough she can stand up straight without too much effort. "Think m'just glad it's dark enough I couldn't see the ground coming in."

That gets Kara grinning for some reason. "I'd love to take you during the day sometime. Not to scare you, but so you can appreciate how beautiful it is up there, how free it feels."

"Maybe," Lena says, trying to keep her head steady, brain still spinning from the drop. "For now, I need you to get home safe and dry off. And we'll definitely talk about the storm thing later."

"Cool, will do," Kara nods. "And can you really think about the other thing? No pressure, I'd just like to know, if that's okay."

"I'll think about it," Lena says, and then she says goodbye and watches Kara walk away.

-

She checks her phone the next day after a long morning in the greenhouse and finds several messages from Kara, all in a row.

_i shouldn't have sprung that on you like that yesterday_

_i was just nervous, and when im nervous i can never get my words straight_

_but i want you to know me offering wasn't saying you need me, i just_

_i don't know_

_sorry_

Lena sighs, and types out her response after a second. _yesterday was fine, alright? don't overthink it. just give me a little time to figure out what i want. it's a big decision for me._ She hesitates for a really long second, then, fingers shaking, she types, _maybe we can talk about why it's a big deal sometime. i can trade you for your thunder story, if you're interested._

_anywho, how was your morning?_

Kara responds right away. _you got a deal <3 any time you want to chat, i'm free. _And then immediately follows it up with another. _my morning was filled with me overthinking! :)_ _how was yours? hopefully better._

Lena smiles. She can't handle how cute Kara is, even over _text_. She shakes her head and sends back, _sadly, no ): spent the entire morning showering my goldflame honeysuckle. with a hose!! and not with affection, like i'd rather be!!_

 _i'm so sorry :(_ Kara answers. _but i'd say that still counts as affection! i've seen how much love you put into your plants, it's like. idk, inspiring. i mean, look at andrea!! she's thriving! back from the dead like a zombie plant! :B_

Lena huffs a laugh out her nose. _we did NOT agree on that name_

_and don't make a plant baby joke. do not._

_i know you're thinking it_

Kara sends back, _ngl i have like six q'd up and it's hard to keep them in, but i will respect the wishes of the mother of my plant_

 _omg i'm leaving!_ Lena bites her lip, laughing. _control yourself next time, thanks_

Andrea comes by later in the afternoon. She's probably the only _other_ person in this world that makes Lena smile by just existing. "I need my weekly dose of _Kara_ gossip," she explains, smiling as she flicks the spillover of a hanging plant. "You're probably the closest I'll ever get to a dragon, by the way. They avoid us like the fucking plague."

Lena laughs, shaking her head. "I mean, according to WebMD, repeated sex with a succubus _can_ cause poor physical and mental health, and even death," she points out. "I think they're just trying to avoid being even more endangered than they already are."

Andrea rolls her eyes. "It'd be the best sex they ever had, and they know it." She clears her throat, then, "How is she?"

"She's good," Lena starts. She folds the page she's on in her temperature journal and sets it on the table, then pulls over two chairs for them to sit in. "She comes by the greenhouse a lot these days, pretends she's just checking in on my orchid," she adds, leaning back in her chair, rubbing the heels of her palm down her quads to relieve the aches from squatting all day.

Andrea snorts. "That pile of scraps in a pot you found?"

"Yeah, that one. It's in good shape now. Kara said I should name it Andrea since it's strong."

Andrea smirks. "She's that clever and you _haven't_ had sex yet?"

"Shut up," Lena laughs, then sighs and says, "I don't know," frown tugging through her smile. "It's like the more I trust her, the more I _fear_ her. I don't want - I don't know. I'm still having a really hard time letting her in."

"She's not Lex," Andrea says, like it's as simple as that.

Maybe it is. Lena definitely wants it to be. "She asked if she could be my Companion last night."

Andrea looks down at her nails like they're suddenly interesting, but she raises both eyebrows. "Yeah? You considering it?"

"Yeah. Maybe. She's... She makes me better. In a weird way," Lena admits. "Not just because she's safe, but because she has _confidence_ in me. I accidentally stoned a deer during our walk home last night, and I know dragons are trained to shift if we lose control since it's safest for them that way, but. She didn't. She didn't _and_ she was already on the edge of shifting from panicking about the storm."

"Mmm." Andrea apparently doesn't have much to add for a while. "Does she know about Lex?" she asks eventually, finally looking up from her nails. 

"Well. She knows it's hard for me to trust dragons, that there's probably a reason for it. And she's making an effort to, like. She's not pushing things too fast. We communicate a lot, but—"

"But she doesn't know how much he hurt you," Andrea frowns. "Knowing you have _a_ reason is not quite the same."

Lena wants to scream, but Andrea would probably kill her, so she just sighs. "No," she says. "Not quite. But sometimes I think if she knows, then she won't want to take on that much baggage."

From the looks of it, Andrea agrees with that as a consideration. "Yeah, she could walk away," she says. "It's a lot to take in. But," she adds, looking pointedly at Lena. "You can't keep her attached to you hanging in limbo because you refuse to tell her what you're truly worried about."

"It's rude of you to point that out," Lena huffs.

Andrea shrugs. "You know how much I love you. That means I'll fight even _you_ to get what's best for you."

Their friendship works so well. Andrea gets someone to rant to until she inevitably solves her own problems, and Lena gets to have the smartest, most reasonable, most _understanding_ sounding board that anyone's ever had. Maybe this is what happens when she actually lets people in. Or maybe, she just gets Lex again. She shivers, thinking about it.

"Andrea," Lena begins, and then she's not quite sure if she wants this to go any deeper, or if she wants to pull it back up again. Andrea just waits, tilting her head in that way Lena thinks is adorable. She decides to pull it up. "She offered to take me flying, yesterday. Like, officially. During the daytime and with a saddle and everything."

"Oh, that's good!" Andrea exclaims. "Dragons can't talk in full form, so just get her in the air and tell her everything. She'll have time to think about it, too. So, by the time you land she should have something good to say and not whatever dumb thing her gut response might have been. It's a win for you both."

Lena nods. "You really think so..."

Andrea nibbles her lip for a second, then, "Yes. Call her and set it up."

-

Kara invites her to the flying fields the following Saturday. The first thing Lena sees when she gets there is a fledgling in full form ripping into what looks like a freshly murdered goat carcass. The second thing she sees is Kara's flushed face scurrying over and blocking her line of sight.

"Don't look at that, please," she says shyly. "We just get a little hungry when we're flying all day."

Lena smiles, letting herself be scooped into the hug Kara's offering. "You guys could just keep a table of Cheez-Its and Gatorade like they do anywhere else there's a ton of physical activity." 

Kara squeezes her tighter and rubs her face in her hair, laughing. Then she pulls away, holding Lena's shoulders as she looks her over. "Hunger hits us on a little more of a primal level, I'm sorry to inform you. But like, I get it. It's not really a great look for us. I had to like, _pull strings_ for them to let me bring you here. But we got you a saddle made-up and everything."

"You didn't have to _make_ one," Lena frowns.

"It's not. We just. It's not a _big_ deal," Kara flushes an even brighter red. "It'll just be around for you in case you want to come back again. You won't have to always worry about borrowing one."

"You think this is a standing date?" Lena asks.

"You think this is a _date_?" Kara counters, and Lena's smile gushes out of her. She really stepped right into that one. "Should've worn my good pants, then, what an idiot. Glad I got my scales waxed right before this."

"You did _not_ ," Lena laughs.

"Can't miss a chance for you to see me shimmering in the sunlight."

"You better live up to that," Lena says. "I'll let you know if you don't. I don't want to see a single dull spot."

"I'll have the fledglings waxing all night if you do," Kara winks.

Just then, another dragon walks over. A girl with dark hair, wearing blue leggings, and a white t-shirt. Lena smiles at her, but she doesn't bother returning it, just looks Lena over for a second, then looks at Kara. "Is this the gorgon you mentioned?" she asks, sounding somewhat displeased.

"Yes, this is Lena," Kara introduces.

The girl looks Lena over again, sighing this time, like she'd rather throw Lena out of here than let her go any further. Instead, though, she takes a step back and folds her arms across her chest. Maybe Kara wasn't _that_ successful convincing them Lena should be here. "We have your saddle ready in the back," the girl says, "but I hope you know it's a _big_ thing letting someone saddle us, so. Try not to be a jerk to Kara."

"Nia," Kara snaps, tilting her head like she's pleading.

Nia just doubles down. "Has she given you an answer about being her Companion?" Kara hesitates, and Nia jumps on it. "And you're letting her saddle you? Awesome, nice, cool. Because _that_ makes sense."

"Whoa," Lena says, as calm as she can, trying to calm _everyone_ down. "If this is inappropriate, then I don't mind not doing it. As for the Companion thing, I'm just taking some time to think about it, honestly. I'm not trying to hurt anyone."

"What's there to think about?" Nia asks. "She did the whole training just for you."

Lena doesn't get the chance to process that, because Kara snaps, "Nia," again, this time more authoritative, this time _freezing_ Nia with a firm gaze. "I need you to apologize. Now."

There's a tense second where Nia just looks at Lena, then she deflates.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles. "I didn't mean to overstep." She seems to be embarrassed, her cheeks flushing more and more the longer she stands in the following silence. It makes Lena wonder how much power Kara has over the dragons here. Nia obviously didn't want to apologize, but Kara _made_ her, and all she was doing was looking out for Kara. Lena doesn't like that. It feels like Lex. "I'll go get the saddle," she says quietly, a few seconds later, then she turns around.

Lena elbows Kara as soon as Nia's walked far enough away to be out of hearing distance. "Don't do that. You embarrassed her." 

Kara looks genuinely confused. "What do you mean? She was being mean to you, so she needed to apologize."

Lena rolls her eyes. "I can handle someone trying to protect you, you don't need to go all alpha dragon."

"Hey, it's okay," Kara says, then repeats, when Lena stands firm, "Really, it's okay. That's just how dragons do things, it's no big deal. Honest."

"No, that's _not_ okay," Lena frowns. "She obviously didn't like that."

"What do you want me to do? Apologize?"

"Yes."

"For what?"

"For being an asshole, I don't know," Lena says, ears heating up, _fuck_. She's getting too upset.

Kara must pick up on it. Everything about her demeanor changes, softening right in front of Lena. "I shouldn't have done that in front of you, you're right, okay? I just didn't want her talking to you like that, but I can tell her sorry."

Lena nods, taking long breaths until her heartrate feels slower. "Please, I would like that."

Kara smiles and wraps her arm around Lena's shoulders, folding Lena in against her chest. Lena snaps her eyes shut as soon as she sniffs in the familiar smell of Kara's shirt, letting the tension slowly melt away, letting herself finally think about Nia saying Kara did the training _for her_. Everything feels like too fucking much. "Hey, it's okay. I'll apologize to her," Kara promises. "I'm sorry I did that."

"Maybe we shouldn't fly today," Lena says, rubbing her nose against Kara's clavicle.

She feels a little bit uncomfortable with it after that conversation, and she's having a hard time processing a lot of shit right now. So she starts preparing her argument for Kara trying to convince her, but Kara just responds, "That's okay. We can do it some other day, alright? Let me show you something cute, instead."

"Okay," Lena agrees, then Kara grabs her hand and brings her to the far side of the fields.

They end up in a patch where there are at least a dozen tiny whelps flapping their wings and barely leaving the ground. They start to screech excitedly as soon as they see Kara, happily jumping in the air. Kara smiles at Lena, eyes flicking black as she tilts her head, like she's asking if it's okay. Lena nods, and just like that: she's shifting, growing larger and larger, glistening black scales with red flecks lining the entirety of her body as she grows to full-size. As soon as she's in full form, she huffs her chest out and Lena giggles, then the whelps are on her in an instant, circling and climbing up her back like a jungle gym. 

One whelp even climbs up Lena's back, wraps its tail around her torso and hooks its head over her shoulder, snuggles in and hums pleasantly like it's content. Lena will have to ask later if there's a way to tell genders in full form or if they even _do_ gendering in full form. She'll also have to ask about the different _types_. She's never seen so many dragons in full form all at once, but they definitely don't all look the same or even have the same build.

There's one thing that's definitely true for all of them, though.

"They're so cute!" Lena exclaims, letting the whelp attached to her sniff her hair. "How much longer until they're ready to fly?"

It hits her a second after she asks it that Kara can't _respond_ , but Kara does her one better and starts spinning in circles, shaking her body until there's only one whelp left clinging to her back. Then she backs up to a clear area, checks over her shoulder quickly, and launches them both into the air. Once they've gone pretty high, Lena sees Kara flap her wings hard and point her nose straight up, spiraling her body as she goes. It's only a few seconds before the whelp flies clear off her back, circling through the air with no real direction. What follows is a very tense minute of Kara trailing the whelp as it struggles to orient itself, before it finally catches air underneath its wing ridiculously close to the ground and soars itself back up.

Kara lands and watches for a bit, and it's dumb, but it makes Lena tear up seeing how proud she looks. She probably shouldn't have doubted Kara's ability to handle her dragons.

Lena tells her as much when Kara's walking her back toward the exit of the fields. "It seems like they really trust you."

"Yeah, of course," Kara beams. "They know I'd never let anything hurt them."

"And Nia would never let anything hurt you," Lena nudges her. "Even the gorgons you've sworn to protect."

"I know," Kara says, dropping her head at that. "Trust me, I know, but. Sometimes she has to pull it back a little, though. One day everyone might be looking up to her, you know? She has to keep a cool head."

"That makes sense," Lena says. "Sorry for blowing up about it."

"That's okay," Kara smiles. "It's definitely not a bad thing that your instinct is to protect them. I like you a little more each day."

Lena smiles back at her, cheeks heating up fast underneath the heavy sun. Maybe Andrea's right. Maybe she should trust Kara with the parts of herself that aren't so pretty, all of her dark corners and sharp edges. Maybe this is the time she lets go and doesn't get hurt. Maybe she should give in. Maybe she should _try_. "I think I like you more each day, too," she admits.

Kara can be pretty fucking convincing.


	2. Chapter 2

A call from Kara is a pretty welcome distraction in the middle of an ongoing aphid war. It's Sunday afternoon, and Lena's been up since the early morning, grumpy and exhausted and failing _miserably_ with every single approach she takes. So now she's drenched--both in sweat and water, _and_ in insecticidal soap--and feeling a little bit defeated.

All things considered, she's more than happy to throw her hose aside and answer her phone. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, are you free today?" The voice on the other end is definitely not Kara. "Um, this is Nia. From yesterday. I know you weren't expecting me, but--"

"Why do you have Kara's phone?" Lena cuts her off. "Is she okay?"

"Oh. Yes. Sorry. She's just reading a story to the whelps right now, so I thought maybe. We could talk."

Lena tries not to sigh. This could be bad. "About what?"

"Kara apologized to me," Nia says, less pleased than Lena thought she might be. "It was really awkward. For the both of us."

"I won't ask her to do that again," Lena says flatly.

"No, sorry. That's not. Look," Nia fumbles out, "what I mean to say is this: we look up to Kara. We trust her more than you can probably comprehend, and we always follow her lead. We're her tribe, y'know, but lately, it feels a little bit like she's following _your_ lead. So, I think it's a good time for us to get to know you. Or like, I think it's definitely a good time for _me_ to get to know you."

Lena isn't necessarily excited about that offer, but she feels like she owes it to Nia. Yesterday she got a glimpse into dragon life that very few species outside of dragons themselves are allowed to see. She knows they keep a lot of things secret to protect who's left of them, so maybe it's a small miracle that the only flak Lena got was Nia being a _tiny_ bit prickly. "Sure, do you want to do a late lunch?"

"Maybe more of a dinner? Come by my place after 7, I'll text the address. You can help me make empanadas."

It sounds a lot like she's _trying_ to be firm, but not quite used to giving orders. Lena thinks it's cute, in a way, so she only gives her a little shit for it. "You want to tell me what to wear, too, or you done giving orders?"

"Um, sorry," Nia mumbles, but surprisingly she doesn't back out of it. "I just want to see how good you are at feeding a dragon, since like. We have to eat. And m'usually so hungry after flight practice I never get to complete the meal, just eat the meat straight from the package."

She sounds like she's blushing. Lena smiles. Maybe being cute is just a _thing_ for Kara's tribe. "I'll handle anything with meat in the recipe," she agrees, "but you have to make us a dessert. I like to eat, too. Maybe not as much as Kara, but I can work up an appetite."

Nia snorts. "Just wait 'til you see her eating dinner with _us_ , doubt you've seen what a real appetite looks like."

Lena thinks about that on the drive to Nia's apartment. She's always known that Kara's a messy eater, always known she's quite capable of putting away _a lot_ , but she does wonder what she's like when she's comfortable and relaxed, just eating with her tribe. After all, she did seem a bit embarrassed about the fledgling eating the goat yesterday. Maybe Lena has to put that on her list of Things That Dragons Just Do, and try her best to convince Kara it's okay to do them around her. Maybe she should think about why that feels so important to her right now.

She parks in front of Nia's apartment building and takes a second to breathe first, before she considers going in. Then she puts on three layers of chapstick, tops it with a gloss, and looks in the mirror a little while longer to give herself an embarrassing pep talk. 

She's mostly calm when she gets out of the car, though, so it seems like it worked, at least.

She runs into a trio of fledglings on her way into the building, all of them awkwardly lingering outside the entrance. One blacks out her eyes immediately when she makes eye contact with Lena, then she flushes afterward like she's trying to apologize. Lena just smiles at her, which is apparently a nice enough gesture for the fledgling to offer to walk her up to Nia's apartment.

She doesn't expect how soft Nia looks when she opens the door: hair shower-ruffled and face tired, with a wrinkled white t-shirt on and navy blue joggers. Her eyes are the color of lake water tonight, but Lena remembers them being brown yesterday. Her guard must be up.

"Exactly 7:01," Nia says, unimpressed. "You're punctual."

"Yeah, I guess," Lena shrugs, already counting the minutes until she can go home. She wants more than anything to be a part of Kara's tribe, but she's also had a too-long day, is _very_ low on patience, and really doesn't have the energy for a grumpy dragon barely past the age of being a fledgling giving her fucking _sass_. Maybe tonight was a bad night to pick. "Did you expect me to show up late?"

"Yeah." Nia just walks back into the apartment then, and Lena supposes that means she should follow.

She shuts the door behind her. "So, um, empanadas?" she asks, for lack of anything else to talk about.

"Everything is on the counter," Nia waves her hand toward the kitchen area. Then she walks to one of the couches and flops down on it, stretching her body across it with one leg resting on the floor. "You can get started, m'just gonna rest. Dessert takes like ten minutes."

Lena wonders if this is some sort of test she's supposed to pass. She's not sure if she's meant to fight back or go along with it, but she's starving so cooking _feels_ like the easier path. Still, she clears her throat and says, "I'm not here for you to boss me around," as firm as she can, just as an experiment, and then she pauses, watching Nia. Nia sinks into the couch a bit, eyes getting darker. She's nervous. She's puffing out her chest for Lena, but she's not an alpha. Not yet, at least. If Lena wanted to check her, she _could_ , and that's all the certainty she needs. "But I'll make dinner because I said I would. I always keep my word."

"Yeah, okay," Nia mumbles, but Lena can see the pink spreading in her cheeks before she grumbles something inaudible and turns over to shove her face against a couch pillow.

Lena doesn't want to instigate something bigger, so she heads to the kitchen and orients herself. Nia wasn't joking, everything is on the counter lined up neatly, and there's even a recipe scribbled out on a piece of paper. She thinks about Nia carefully setting this up, doing her best to be strong, reaching out to Lena, protecting Kara, and suddenly she only feels _fond_ of how rigid she is. Lena's here to prove she's not going to hurt anyone in the tribe, chiefly Kara, and the first step is actually getting through _this_.

She pulls her hair back in a ponytail and starts on making the dough.

Nia wakes up when the empanadas are ready to come out of the oven. Her head pops up over the back of the couch and she sniffs the air like she's shocked at the smell of her own recipe.

"I'm sorry," she says right away, "must have fallen asleep. Kara had us running speed drills in flight training."

"It's okay," Lena says, stepping out of the kitchen area to get a closer look at Nia. Her eyes are brown again, but they quickly shift to a murky blue as Lena gets closer. Lena sighs. "I'm not going to hurt you," she offers. "I don't plan on hurting Kara, either."

There's a really long pause, but at the end of it, Nia's eyes start to shift to brown again. 

"Fine," is what she finally says, then she hops over the back of the couch and hobbles into the kitchen. Lena follows her there, steps around her to turn the oven off before she pulls the tray out. Nia watches her the whole time, hand resting under her shirt over her stomach. She licks her lips when Lena sets the empanadas down on top of the stove. "Those look delicious."

"Thanks, I followed your recipe as best I could."

"I just found it on the internet," Nia shrugs. She's still eyeing the tray. Lena can tell she's going to snatch one before they get a chance to cool. She can just sense it. Sure enough, there are only about four seconds that pass before Nia's grabbing one with her bare hands, eating more than half of it with one bite. "God, these are fucking fantastic."

"Slow down before you burn yourself," Lena cautions. Nia just snorts. Lena laughs a little, because _dragons_ , of course. "Right, almost forgot about the whole fire breathing thing."

"Actually, I'm an acid shooter," Nia tells her, mouth full. "We don't all breathe fire, us dragons, but we _are_ all fireproof."

Lena already knew about acid shooters. She knows they're very rare, too, but now she wants to know more. About Kara, mostly. "Is Kara an acid shooter too, or like, um. Something else. I've just never seen her do anything other than fly in full form."

"No, she breathes fire," Nia says, swallowing and grabbing for another empanada. "But she's not just a standard fire dragon, she's a red healer." She stops in the middle of her bite and flushes a deep red. "Don't tell her I told you that."

"I won't," Lena says, and Nia relaxes again.

She eats the second empanada a little slower, then asks, "Are you dating?"

Lena shakes her head. "Not officially or anything, we're not exactly intimate. We hug. We do that a lot now."

Nia frowns, but it looks sympathetic. "I know some gorgons have reservations about dragons, like – and I don’t mean to sound rude – you sort of fall for us and we can be a little closed off to serious romantic things. But Kara—"

"I know she's serious," Lena comments. "She's never given me the impression she's not. And I know inviting me to the fields was a big deal. She even explained the eye colors, and. She lets me in. I know that. My own family didn't let me in as much as she does. She's great."

"You like her," Nia says. It's not a question. "Why won't you say yes to the Companion thing? She's not doing it because she thinks you're dangerous, she's doing it because law enforcement are required to call her if you ever have an incident. That way she can make sure no one hurts _you_ , not the other way around."

Lena didn't - Kara never said that to her. She didn't even say she was doing it _just_ for Lena. "It's complicated," she mumbles.

"Your tribe is your family. If you can't do complicated with us, then why are you even here?"

It doesn't come out as rude when she asks it, more curious than anything. Lena supposes they _have_ let her in a fair amount, so maybe she can let them in a little bit, too. At the very least, she can open up to Nia and gauge _her_ reaction to help prepare for Kara's. "I just have a hard time trusting most dragons."

Nia folds her arms and leans against the counter. "What for? If it's not – did something happen?" she switches her question.

Lena shrugs. She feels like her heart is beating triple time. She's only ever talked to Andrea about it, so she's like, not sure. But fuck, it feels like a step she definitely needs to take. "My brother happened," she answers, small, quiet, then she lifts her t-shirt sleeve to show Nia her shoulder. It looks a lot like melted skin, and she can see the realization hitting Nia fast. "He was an acid shooter, too. He had me stand in front of a target one day, said he could hit it around me, but it splashed against my shoulder, and... I'm pretty sure he was more upset I made him look bad in front of the help than he was about me seriously being hurt. It was probably the worst thing I've ever felt, but—" she cuts off. She doesn't want to go into it. "It wasn't just this," she says instead of continuing, letting her sleeve fall. "He just, wasn't good."

"Jesus."

Nia's hugging her before Lena can get her next breath out. She doesn't know what to do with her hands, whether to hug back or… what's going on. She feels a little like crying, honestly, but she told herself years ago she wouldn't do that anymore. He doesn't get any more of her tears.

"I'm so sorry," Nia whispers, and Lena knows she doesn't need to explain anything else. Nia's an acid shooter. She knows what it does. She probably gets that Lena's shoulder is the tip of the iceberg. "Some of us are fucked up, even if all anyone talks about is how we _help_ gorgons, but that isn't – we wouldn't be able to get away with doing shit like that here. We wouldn't _want_ to, either."

"No, it's not that I think - I _know_ it's not a reflection of all dragons, but I freeze up sometimes and close myself off. I'm just. Scared."

"You don't have to be, not around us," Nia says fast, almost frantic. Lena swears she can _feel_ her hearts beating. She's still holding Lena tight, like she won't let the hug end until Lena gets it: Kara's tribe isn't full of monsters, so to speak. "I know words are just words and hardly as strong as feelings, but I mean that. Kara doesn't even let me practice acid shooting with other _dragons_ on the field. I have to be completely isolated. I'd never want - I'm so sorry he did that. Fuck."

"I mean, it's not, like. It's okay now, I promise," Lena says, sinking into the hug, finally wrapping her arms around Nia. Dragons are so fucking warm. Lena always feels so settled touching them. "Either way, he's dead, so. I don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Good," Nia says. "Because I would have killed him."

There's a knock on the door, then, and they both jump. Nearly knocking heads with each other. Nia grips her tight like she's going into fight or flight, but Lena ruffles her shirt and breaks the tension by laughing a little. "I doubt this is a horror movie, you expecting anyone?"

Nia relaxes, laughing along, then she pulls off the hug and shakes her head, smiling as her eyes light up orange. Protective. Lena feels like she might melt. "No, but it's probably just one of the fledglings. We can smell food from like, six miles away when we're hungry. I'll send them away."

"Okay," Lena says, except when Nia opens the door, it's not a fledgling. It's Kara.

"Someone texted me you had a gorgon over, and it sounded a lot like Lena," she explains, stepping inside of Nia's apartment and quickly making eye contact with Lena. A look flashes in her eyes that Lena can't figure out at first, but a few seconds later it hits her that Kara's being _territorial_. She can't help but smile as she outstretches her arms. It barely takes Kara three strides to cross the apartment and hug her, holding Lena against her tight as her face settles against Lena's hair. "What's all this? You made Nia _food_. You never make me food."

"Because you're always inviting me out for vegan burgers," Lena says. She can hear Nia laugh from across the apartment.

"I didn't know this was an option," Kara says. Lena can tell she's pouting. Nia joins them in the kitchen to grab another empanada and Kara lets the hug go. "These smell fantastic, though."

"They taste fantastic," Nia says, shoving one in her mouth. "I think we should invite her to tribe dinner."

"You didn't even want her at the fields," Kara laughs, confused, cautiously optimistic, maybe.

"Yeah, but that was before we _bonded_ ," Nia emphasizes, giving Lena a smirk that Kara definitely notices.

"What does that mean?" Kara asks Lena. "What was that look? What'd you bond about? Was it me?"

Nia snorts. "You'd think so," she mumbles. 

Lena smiles and rolls her eyes. "It was nothing, honestly. We just talked."

"Nia?" Kara asks, looking at her the way she did when she made her apologize. Lena's heart sinks.

"We talked about something I want to tell you myself," Lena cuts in. "In private, if that's okay."

Nia ducks her head, blinking up at Lena appreciatively. "Um, I can leave you like, two of these, and take the rest to the fledglings."

"Sounds good," Lena says. "We should only be a bit."

"I'll call you," Kara says firmly, then Nia quickly loads the empanadas in a Tupperware and shuffles out of the apartment.

Lena already learned her lesson about meddling with dragon dynamics, so instead of commenting on it, she asks, "How was your day?"

Kara turns and gets a hand on her waist immediately, tilts her head, lips pink and fucking glistening. They've never kissed before, but Lena sort of wants that to change. Maybe tonight if things don't all go to shit. "My day was good. How are you? What are you doing here?"

"Nia invited me over. She wanted to talk, wanted to get to know me."

Kara sighs. "She should have asked me first."

"Why?" Lena asks. Kara freezes. "I mean, like. I just - I don't know. She was just reaching out because it felt important to her that we talk. You should want me to get to know her. You should want me to get to know the _tribe_."

Kara starts to say something, then hesitates, mouth hanging open like she's very, _very_ carefully choosing her phrasing. "I know, okay," she finally says. "I get it, and I definitely want you to be closer to her and the tribe, but that doesn't mean she gets to break the rules like this. She went behind my back, and I'm glad it seems to have gone well, but I've seen things like this _not_ turn out okay."

"Oh," Lena mumbles. She doesn't know what the rules are or how not to break them, she just knows how she feels. She doesn't want to be rude or inconsiderate of their traditions, but she also just wants to _get to know everyone_. She doesn't want to get Nia in trouble just for trying to reach out. It's all a lot. "Sorry, fuck sorry. This is all new for me, okay? I grew up with dragons, but they were isolated from the like, _everything_ that you have going on here—tribes and neighborhoods and all the dynamics. I never thought I'd be involved with all of this, so it's hard to just, process."

Truthfully, if anyone asked Lena a year ago, she would've said she never _wanted_ to be involved with any of this. The only reason she's living _here_ , close to dragons like every other gorgon, is because it's hard getting approved to live anywhere else. It's too much of a liability to lease to gorgons if there aren't dragons close by. So, it's hard for Lena to escape dragons if she's not using her last name to get what she wants. And something she's always hated is _using her last name to get what she wants_. The bigger point, though, is that she's changed since she first moved here. She likes dragons now, or at least the ones she's surrounded herself with.

"That's okay. There's no rush. As long as you're trying, that's all we want."

"I am," Lena says fast. "I'm learning a lot."

"You're also—" Kara starts, then chews the inside of her cheek, clears her throat, sighs. "You're still welcome here, in this neighborhood, even if you walk away from me, you know?" she finally says, like she's reading Lena's mind.

It's an obvious out, but Lena doesn't want to take it, not even a little bit.

"I don't want to walk away from you," she says.

"Yeah?" Kara smiles, relieved, eyes flicking through an assortment of warm colors. It's not exactly voluntary when it happens, dragons can't force a feeling they don't have, so seeing something sappy flicker in Kara's eyes is enough to make it hard for Lena to breathe. "You finally admitting it's okay to like a dragon?"

"I'm finally admitting that I _do_ like a dragon, you dork. Could you like, stop, please."

Kara smiles even wider, then twists her mouth like she's thinking hard about something. After a few seconds, she squints her eyes and hums, "Mmm, no, I think I wanna stew in this a little longer. You've been torturing me for the better part of a year, so now it's my turn."

Lena frowns. "I was up front about not liking dragons. As I remember, it was _you_ who chose the road less traveled. You stuck around when it looked pretty bleak for you."

"Well, you didn't make it easy to walk away from you, did you?"

"I feel like I did," Lena admits, which feels a lot more vulnerable than she wanted it to. So, she tidies it up as best she can with, "But I'm really glad you decided to stick around."

Kara steps even closer in her space, both hands on Lena's hips, brow crinkled in concern. If they wanted to kiss, they could do it right now, but she knows Kara won't. "Of course, I did," Kara says. "You're worth waiting for." She's so sincere for no good reason, and Lena hates it because she loves it. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Better question is—" Lena starts, then swallows down her deflection. She needs to do this. "I just wanted to show you something that - I said I'd tell you why it's a big decision for me, but it's better if you see it."

"Okay," Kara says. She lets Lena go, takes a step back, twists her hands together. "Show me."

Lena's even more nervous right now than when she showed Nia. "It's a little hard to take in, maybe," she prefaces.

"That's okay. I want to see."

"Yeah, that's – I know, sorry. I'm just. Nervous," she admits, and it feels good to say it out loud.

It feels even better when Kara's eyes soften. "What are you afraid of? What's the worst that can happen if you show me?"

"You walk away," Lena whispers.

"I won't," Kara says, no hesitation. "Which means the worst thing won't happen."

Lena smiles. She knew it wouldn't, deep down she _knew_ , but it's good to hear it out loud. She takes the little bit of confidence that gives her and runs with it: takes a deep, calming breath and slowly lifts her sleeve again.

To be honest: watching Kara's face harden is probably the _real_ worst part, but Lena won't mention it.

For the second time tonight, she has one of her ugliest memories on display. "I wanted to show you this, to show you I know firsthand that not all dragons are worth letting in, and _that's_ the real reason it's hard for me to let go around you." She hates using this as an example when Lex did so much worse, but it feels like this is what resonates the most, the physical things. "It's not just a random fear, I've experienced what can happen if you trust the wrong one."

The color washes clear out of Kara's cheeks, eyes so fucking _dark_ , but not black. She swallows hard enough it's audible, then, after the longest ten seconds in the world—maybe twenty—she asks, very _slow-calm-quietly_ , "Who?"

It's a loaded question. Not just _who_ but _who do I need to find?_

"My brother," Lena says, or rather _breathes_. She's breathless, and it has everything to do with Kara's face, her body, her posture. Lena's not a dragon or even in the tribe yet, but the alpha effect isn't completely lost on her. Not right now, at least. "Guess he thought it was a fun idea to use me for target practice, or whatever."

"He's dead, right?" Kara asks, like she's a little salty about it.

"Yeah, and if he wasn't, Nia would have killed him," Lena comments. It's dumb, but it makes her smile unexpectedly. She's talking about Lex, but that can't dim the light and warmth she feels from Kara, from _Nia_. How protected she feels right now. She pulls her sleeve down. As much as she's attracted to whatever is happening with Kara right now, she likes it a little more when she's smiling. "Story for another time? It's a good night, want to keep it that way."

"Okay. Whenever you're ready," Kara agrees, stares at Lena's shoulder just a little while longer, grits her teeth, then… softens again, like it's a skill she's mastered. Her whole face blossoms when she looks up, eyes bright blue. "Also, _Nia_ would not have killed him, but _I_ would have made sure he never hurt you again."

Lena chuckles. "Another dragon thing?"

"Another dragon thing," Kara laughs, nodding. "You're catching on."

Lena wants to be touching again, so she steps too close in Kara's space, but Kara doesn't seem to mind. She just hums, deep, content. Lena points at the tray on the stove. "Anyway. We should eat these. Before they're cold."

"You go ahead, already had dinner earlier."

"You don't have to be weird about food around me. I sort of gathered you're a dragon."

"Nia talks too much," Kara laughs, hunching forward to wrap her arms around Lena. "Let's split it?"

"Sounds fair," Lena says, and reaches for one.

They don't kiss, but it still turns out to be a pretty good night for them.

-


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much to everyone following along with this fic, and everyone leaving the wonderful feedback. as always, it's a pleasure sharing stories with you <3
> 
> hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> I'm on [TUMBLR](https://valkyrieskwad.tumblr.com/) and [TWITTER](https://twitter.com/VaIkyrieSquad) here!

"Hey, so about last night," Kara says when Lena picks up the phone.

"Yeah, about last night," Lena echoes. She's already chewing on a smile.

"It was good, right?" Kara asks, then quickly clarifies, "Not like _good_ , but like - no, it _was_ good, I just mean - it was, um," she staggers off and Lena thinks about throwing her a lifeline, but it's endearing listening to her fumble. Kara sighs. "I'm not sure why I'm struggling so much to say this. I guess I just wanted to make sure you thought it was good too, and I'm not accidentally reading too much into anything," she finally gets out. "Last night felt like a big step, you know, and I just want to be sure it _was_ a big step."

"It was," Lena confirms. "You can read too much into it."

Kara lets out a long breath. "Yeah? Even the parts where you said you liked me?"

"Especially those parts."

"Good. I just wanted to check," she gushes. She's so fucking cute without trying to be. "Nia's on cleaning duty at the fields for pretty much the rest of her life, by the way. But she wanted me to bring you flowers as an apology."

Lena laughs, opens her mouth to comment on that, but reminds herself to leave it alone. They'll get it sorted out, she's sure, and if Nia wants to send flowers, that means last night was largely a success. "Bring me something I can keep alive. I'd like that even more."

"I knew you'd say that," Kara says. Lena can practically hear her smile. It makes her feel closer somehow, like Lena could reach through the phone and grab her hand. "We picked out something special. I can come by if you want, help you find a place for it? I'm free right now if you're not doing anything."

"Just say you want to come over. You don't need weird excuses."

"Okay," Kara chuckles. "I want to come over."

Lena has to wait a second to respond so it won't be obvious how hard she's smiling. "Sounds good. I'm home right now, haven't eaten yet, though, if you wanted to maybe get some food."

"I have some leftovers from dinner I could bring, if that's okay."

"Sounds perfect."

"Great, I'll pack them up, then," Kara says.

"Okay. Hey, um," Lena clears her throat, then hesitates, then figures it's a good question. "Would it be disrespectful to take Nia food or something, as _my_ way of apologizing? I feel bad she's on cleaning duty because of me."

"It's not because of you," Kara answers, which doesn't answer Lena's question.

"Is that a no?"

"Give it a week so she at least learns a lesson, and then you can spoil her as much as you want."

"I'm not _spoiling_ her," Lena smiles, cheeks bunched up too high. "I just think she's trying her best."

"I've seen her best and this wasn't it. It wasn't even close, to be honest. But, thanks for being so considerate," she adds brightly.

"Okay, I trust you," Lena gives in. "And yeah, I just, I don't know. I feel like I have a soft spot for her."

"She has that effect on you."

"Yeah," Lena agrees. She chews her lip for a second, thumbing at the blanket over her legs. It feels like a comfortable gap in the conversation, so it's maybe a good time to go. They can talk more about Nia and the tribe and their _relationship_ when Kara gets here. And they're alone. In Lena's apartment. No big deal. "Um, anyway, I'll see you in a bit?"

"You'll see me in a bit," Kara confirms.

"Okay, cool. Later then," Lena says. Then she hangs up and looks over at Andrea. "See? I told you we're pretty much a thing now."

Andrea's grinning. She has been the whole time, cuddled underneath the blanket with Lena on the couch. 

"You're adorable," she says. "Both of you. Who's Nia?"

"She's a beta in Kara's tribe. She was giving me shit, so I made her empanadas."

Andrea snorts. "And that worked?"

"A dragon's _fourth_ heart is in their stomach, right? Or am I misremembering creature anatomy."

Andrea smiles, rolls her eyes. "And they were okay about the Lex stuff?"

Lena shrugs. "I didn't go deep into all of the things he did, just showed them my shoulder from when he spit acid on me. But I'm pretty sure they both want to bring him back and kill him again."

"That's good?"

"It's great, even got invited to tribe dinner." 

"That's huge," Andrea comments. "You're basically family."

"I know," Lena says, and then the weight of it sinks in right after the words leave her mouth. They _are_ treating her like family, and a large part of it is probably them following Kara's lead, so it makes a lot of sense for Nia to be _worried_ , when Lena won't even say yes to Kara being her Companion. She hasn't exactly gone out of her way to earn their trust, or even Kara's, for that matter, so. That's another thing she wants to keep working on. "I didn't want anything to do with them, but now I don't know what I'd do if I lost them."

"Dragons are like that," Andrea says, voice drifting off like she's thinking about something else. She does that sometimes, fades away in the middle of a conversation. Lena used to take it personally, but now she knows it usually only happens when it's been a while since Andrea last fed. Which feels a lot more pressing than talking about Kara.

"When did you last eat?" Lena asks, straight up, ditching the dragon talk. For now, at least.

"Dinner, yesterday. I'm okay," Andrea answers, and the words mean more than that. They mean something like, _don't rephrase and ask the question you're really trying to ask, because I don't want to talk about it._

Lena does it anyway. "No, when did you last _feed_?"

Andrea's shoulders sink. She never wants to have this conversation, and that always manages to make Lena more worried. "It's been a while, alright? I've been doing the monogamy thing, but she got really sick after our last time."

"I thought we talked about this."

"Did we?" Andrea asks. She's being petulant.

"Yes," Lena sighs. "Succubae _aren't_ monogamous. For good reason, too, you know that. If you're not hurting your partner, you're probably hurting yourself. You need to feed way more than one person can handle."

"I know, okay? I know. I promise."

"Are you sure?"

" _Lena_ ," Andrea whines.

Lena caves. She always does. "Hey," she says, crawling over so she can drape herself across Andrea, "you'll figure it out. I know you will. I'm sorry, alright? I just worry about you." She blinks at Andrea until she gets a nod, a reluctant smile breaking through Andrea's annoyance, then she kisses her shoulder and ruffles the sleeve of her shirt. "I'm also sorry I keep obsessing about dragons. I imagine it's getting annoying by now."

"It'll never get annoying, I promise," Andrea says, full-on smiling now, wrapping an arm around Lena and pulling them down on the couch. Lena shifts on top of her, hugging against her side. "Are you keeping these out when Kara comes over?" Andrea asks, gingerly touching one of the snakes cascading from Lena's scalp. It melts against Andrea's finger, circling around her hand. Lena watches for a second, considering that. She's not sure if her snakes will even like Kara. "You should let her meet them, they're adorable."

"Yeah, because they like you," Lena points out. "They're usually little assholes that snap at everything."

"Yeah, but m'sure she's used to being bitten, taking care of whelps and whatnot."

"But I'm not a baby," Lena frowns. "I don't want her to know it's hard for me to control my snakes when I shift. That's embarrassing, you know? And—"

"And she's had training," Andrea cuts her off. "I doubt she'd get a Companion qual without being equipped to handle a full-form gorgon. And this is just a partial shift. She's ready. She knows a fucking lot about your species, and she's still here."

"Ugh, fine. Stay with me?" Lena asks. "She's coming over soon, so just until she gets here. I don't want to freak out and shift back or put on a full face of make-up, or worse—put my bra back on."

Andrea snorts. "You had me at _I get to meet your dragon girlfriend_ , no convincing necessary."

Kara comes over half-an-hour later, and Lena regrets the snakes as soon as the door is open. She's so used to having them out around Andrea, she didn't really think through what it might look like to someone who hasn't seen them before. They're a little longer than her hair, thick and black, and they flare out whenever they encounter something new. So now they're too alert and Lena's tense enough to break in half if Kara makes the wrong move. She tries her best to hide how nervous she feels when she locks eyes with Kara, but one of her snakes lets out a tiny, little whine and Kara latches on to it immediately.

"Awww," she coos, reaching over to nudge underneath its jaw with the back of her index finger. "It's okay, don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. In fact, m'a bit of a large snake myself," she says, shifting a bit so her hand is scaly. Lena's snake slithers across it without even hesitating. It's unreal. They're being charmed right underneath her nose. "You see, I'm harmless. Honest."

"She's dangerous," Andrea comments, walking over to lean against the doorframe.

"No, she's not," Kara says, not missing a beat, not bothering to look away from Lena's snakes.

Andrea laughs. "I meant you."

"What?" Kara's head snaps up and she stares at Andrea for a long second. "Sorry, don't think we've ever met before."

"No, we haven't. I'm Andrea. Think you named a plant after me."

Lena feels her cheeks heating up even before Kara turns and smiles at her with her twinkling eyes. "Such a good mom, always gushing about the kids. Don't hide your blush with your snakes," she adds, gently prodding them away from Lena's cheeks.

Andrea clears her throat to get Kara's attention again, and then she outstretches her hand, eyes flickering for just a second. Lena can see the way Kara's body stiffens. She suddenly remembers Andrea saying dragons avoid succubae. "It's nice to meet you."

Kara just blinks at her hand. She must know Andrea's trying to read her energy, but a few seconds later she takes it, anyway. "Nice to meet you, too," she says. "Must have done something right, I guess."

Andrea laughs again. "You've been good so far."

"I try," Kara smiles, and then what follows is maybe the longest handshake that Lena's ever seen. Neither one of them lets go. She assumes it's Kara being a good sport, letting Andrea get a read on her. But it ends up being _Kara_ who turns Andrea's hand over, cups it between her own, and asks, "Are you feeling okay. It feels like you—"

Andrea snatches her hand away. "You're a red healer."

"I -" Kara stutters, and then she just stands there with her mouth hanging open.

Andrea frowns. "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm -" Kara continues to stutter, cheeks flushing bright red.

Andrea just rolls her eyes. Lena's thoroughly lost. "You should be with the Council, isn't that—"

"I'm fine on my own," Kara finally jumps in. "I don't want - that's not the life I want for myself. I like being with my tribe."

"You - that - oh my god," Andrea groans. "Stop shaking succubae hands, then."

"You're Lena's friend, though," Kara defends.

"I don't care. Where's your sense of self-preservation?" Andrea asks, like she's tired but also like she genuinely cares. Kara must sense it too; her entire body softens. "Haven't we done enough harm already, don't give us more chances."

Lena nudges Andrea, still confused but catching on enough to want to jump in. "I don't know what this is about, but if anyone wants to hurt Kara, then they have a problem with me."

"No one has a problem with anyone," Kara says gently, looking at Lena, knuckling against her belly. Then she looks back at Andrea and says, very calm, very friendly, "But my mom and sister are both valkyries, so I promise no one _wants_ a problem, either."

"You're already frustrating," Andrea huffs.

"Maybe, but I feel safe and I'm happy," Kara shrugs. "I even have a _succubus_ looking out for me, apparently. What a good life."

"That's not -" Andrea starts, then stops, then _sighs_ , but she's less tense and she's even smiling a little. "Whatever. If you say so, then I'll drop it." She grabs her keys from the table by the door. "You're both giving me worry wrinkles, so, in my best interests, I'm gonna go. Have fun, babe. Invite her in already," she says, kissing Lena on the cheek. She looks at Kara for another long second, then tells her, "And you stay safe. For her. She deserves that."

"I know," Kara says, then she leans against the doorframe and smiles at Lena for a minute. "I brought you food," she says once they're alone, Andrea long gone down the hallway. She pulls at the strap across her chest until a lunchbox slides from behind her back. "If m'actually invited in, that is. Or I guess I can just give you the bag and leave, too."

Lena sighs, but she grabs Kara's shirt and pulls her through the door. Kara kicks it closed behind her, clutching her lunchbox. She's fucking adorable, and Lena's a bit miffed she never mentioned she was _in danger_. She just wants to have a good time without _things_ coming up. "I don't want to talk about sad shit tonight, but are you really safe?" she asks. "And don't lie."

Lena wants it to sound firm since she's serious, but now that Kara's closer her snakes are literally spilling onto her, seeking out whatever part of Kara they can touch like fucking flies to honey. This was a terrible mistake.

"Yeah, I'm really safe, they're so cute," Kara says all in one breath, like it's everyday she has snakes slithering through her curls.

"No, they're not," Lena mumbles. "It's weird, m'like fucking Davy Jones playing the piano with his chin tentacles in the Pirates movie. They're _all over you_. I can't even control it."

Kara snorts, body jerking hard enough one of Lena's snakes slips off her shoulder. "They're attached to your emotions, you know?"

"I _know_ ," Lena groans, and now she's embarrassed. "Don't point it out."

"Fine, but m'a little flattered," Kara preens. "Do they have names; can I name them?"

Lena takes a step back, and then another, her snakes finally recoiling to join her. They all need to take a breath, especially _them_. "I'll think about it, depends on how the night goes. What do you have in the bag?"

"Little bit of this, a little bit of that," Kara says uselessly, walking over to Lena's dining table. Then she unzips the lunchbox and pulls out a container. "I made baked beans," she says, holding it up. "It's just cranberry heirlooms, little maple, little molasses, mustard for spice." She sets it on the table, then pulls out another container and stacks it on top. "Even made you some last minute chopped bacon if you want to add it, since vegan things offend you."

"They don't offend me," Lena smiles. She's charmed. She's positively charmed. "I just meant - I don't care what you eat around me, okay? Even if it's at the flying fields and you need quick energy."

"Point taken," Kara says. "But I do like going meatless where I can. I spend every morning devouring carcasses for energy, so I could use some time where m'just - I don't know like, _not_ funding the entire meat industry. It's not sustainable for a dragon, I know, but I could cut back for part of the day."

"Aren't you sweet?"

"Not intentionally," Kara smiles, which is a lie if Lena's ever heard one. The last thing she pulls out of the lunchbox is a small plant. Lena's eyes lock on it fast. She doesn't know why it feels intimate that Kara's giving her one. "Here's what we picked out. It's called a butterwort. Nia was charmed by it since it's apparently carnivorous like dragons."

Lena walks over and cups the pot in her hands. She loves it already. "Of course, you'd go with carnivorous."

"Predictability is my strong suit," Kara says cheekily, canting her hip. Lena tries not to stare at her lips. "The gardener at the nursery said lots of sunlight, so south-facing windows, if that helps. Figured you might know, though."

"Thank you anyway," Lena says. "Thank Nia, too. Please. For me."

"I _will_ ," Kara rolls her eyes, laughing to herself as she shakes her head. It's not _amusing_ , Lena just cares. "I can fix you a plate while you find a spot for her. You must be starving."

"Yeah, I'll get her in a window," Lena says, so she does. Kara fixes them both plates and sets the table, and after they've been eating for a while, Lena finds she's also chewed through all her willpower to not care. "Can you explain it? What happened with Andrea."

Kara looks caught off guard. She probably is, considering Lena just blurted that out in the middle of the third story she's told about the whelps tonight. Lena figures it's okay, though, they've all ended in Kara being set on fire so far. She can probably figure out where this one is going. "You mean like, why it was weird?"

"Yeah," Lena says, pushing what's left of her beans away. "Why was she upset? And she said something about _the Council_?"

"Dragon Council," Kara clarifies. "They collect red healers like we're shiny Pokémon cards. Mostly because we went and got ourselves nearly killed off. You're supposed to report your existence to them for the database, so they can make you live in their _special, protective housing arrangement_ , but I haven't."

Lena can tell that's a discussion for another time, so instead of going into that, she asks, "And succubae have something to do with you dying? Is that what Andrea was saying?"

"They had us killed," Kara says, "but it's complicated."

Lena's heard that one before. "Nia said if you can't do complicated with your tribe, then why are you here, so."

Kara laughs. "Okay, you can't just. Do you know I said that to Nia first?" she points out. Lena smiles, shrugs. She said what she said, and Kara needs to spit it out. "Fine, okay," she gives in. "Um, m'not sure if you're familiar with succubae feeding habits, but feeding off most species gives them enough energy for a day, and they leave whatever they feed off of fairly catatonic. So, it's like, a new person every day, which is tiring. It's not like that with us, though. They can feed off red healers once and be good for a week. We get a lot weaker for a little bit, but we're otherwise fine."

"Right," Lena mumbles. She knows where this is going. "So, you had an arrangement with them like you have with gorgons."

Kara sighs. "This is why I didn't want to bring it up. This is why it's complicated."

"It's not complicated, you keep getting yourself into situations that get you killed. That's easy enough to understand."

"It's not like that," Kara says, so firm that Lena's snakes retreat. Her face falls instantly. "No, wait. Don't—"

"It's just because you're an alpha, it's fine," Lena says.

"You feel it, too?" Kara asks, like she's shocked, ashamed maybe.

"Sometimes. It's okay. It's not that big of a deal."

"I'll be more careful," Kara says, sinking into her shoulders, making herself smaller. Lena's so fucking bad at this. "We tried to pull out of the arrangement with succubae because hunters were tracking us and kidnapping us when we were weak, but. Some of the more influential succubae weren't too happy with going back to scraping for scraps, so that's why it turned into what it did. I don't hate all succubae for what a few of them did, though, and I definitely won't transfer their mistakes to gorgons."

"Sorry," Lena says. That's not all she wants to say, but she leaves it at that for a minute. They just sit there. She wonders if Kara's thinking about how annoying she is, but at the same time she feels like she deserves it. Maybe it's better if Kara realizes she's a lot to handle early in the relationship. Maybe it's better if she leaves now. But Lena's not good at advocating for herself or her best interests, or opening up, or admitting she's insecure. So, she waits to see what Kara will say.

"Do you want them to bite me?" Kara asks eventually, and Lena frowns.

"What, no. That's ridiculous."

"They _could_ , if it'd help, like m'used to the whelps -"

"I said no," Lena says. "I don't want to hurt you. I'm not upset with you, I'm just. Dumb."

"I didn't mean that to sound insensitive," Kara says slowly, deliberately. "I just know they like to lash out sometimes when you're upset and holding that in can feel like a lot. So, if they ever want to bite me and let off some steam, that's totally cool."

"They don't want to bite you," Lena says, and she means it. They've never been this relaxed while she was upset before. "They like you a lot, actually. And to answer your question, they don't have names, but they do have personalities."

"Oh?" Kara asks.

"Yeah," Lena hums, pointing to the one closest to her right temple. "This one has insomnia, I think, always wakes me up at night." She points to the left side of her head, and then the middle. "These two are more anxious than the others, and this one's really brave."

"Jessica," Kara blurts. "The brave one."

Lena pouts. "Don't name them if you're just going to leave."

Kara raises an eyebrow at her. So this is something they have to really talk about. Lena was just hoping she could look for vague reassurance when she needed it, but now that it's on the table she sort of doesn't mind it being a bigger conversation.

"If I was going to walk away, it wouldn't be suddenly," Kara says. "I'd talk to you about it, and I'd tell you why, and it would never be because you're so worried about me you get yourself too worked up."

"Promise?" Lena asks. "This isn't my full form. I have snake eyes and fangs and I have a tail. Actually, my body is just one giant tail that I stand on, and it's not that cute, really."

"If you think dragons are cute in full form, like, to each their own," Kara says, and Lena glares at her until a smile is threatening to break through her face. "Your full form is fine, okay? I would _never_ judge a creature in their natural state. That's rude."

"A lot of people are rude," Lena points out.

"Yeah, well that's not my MO," Kara says, standing up and grabbing their plates. "Gonna wash these off before they crust, wanna pick a movie to watch or something? Unless you want me to leave after I do the dishes."

Lena stands up with her. She doesn't know why, she just, wants to be at eye level. "I don't want you to go. I can pick out a movie or a puzzle or whatever you want to do. Just stay. Please."

"Okay," Kara says, "and you're not dumb."

Before Lena knows what's happening, Kara's leaning over to give her a kiss. It's not like she doesn't want it, or like it's unexpected, she admits. She thinks she's just been ignoring, pushing down, fighting off this feeling between them for as far back as she can remember. It was only yesterday she gave in to it, and now they're actually kissing. But not really—it's just a peck. Kara's lips are soft, fucking warm, and it's over before it really starts, but it happened. Kara pulls away right after.

"I'll just be a second," she says, but Lena pulls her back.

"The plates are kind of in the way, could you..." Lena trails off.

"Huh?" Kara asks. Lena bites her lip. "Oh, crap. Right, yeah, I'll set them down."

She does, and then she comes back to Lena, takes a deep breath, wipes her hands on pants, smiles nervously, and Lena can't figure out why they haven't been kissing all along. She twists her hands in Kara's shirt and pulls her closer, meets her mouth with her lips slightly parted, and giggles a bit when her snakes wrap around Kara's head. "Do you want me to -"

"No, I love them," Kara says, kissing her soft, then harder, and then they're making out in Lena's living room.

It's a bit of a Revelation, kissing Kara, because up until now she was just _sweet_. But now she's gasping against Lena's lips, biting against them, gripping Lena's shirt tight enough that Lena shifts back _just_ to feel what Kara's hands are like in her _hair_. It's fucking fantastic, is what it is, and the whole thing goes from Lena trying her best to show she's a good kisser, to giving up and following Kara off a fucking cliff. She can barely breathe when Kara pulls away, but she still loses her breath when she catches the red in Kara's eyes. "Wow, sorry," Kara says, because she's too good to be real. "Got carried away." She smoothes out where she roughed up Lena's hair, then says, "You can bring them back, still want to give them all names."

"Okay," Lena smiles. She feels like jello. Kara kisses her again, short and sweet.

"Do you still want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," Lena says.

"We can kiss more," Kara suggests, too shy for how she just kissed Lena, "if you want that. I want that."

"I want that, too."

"Cool," Kara smiles.

"Cool," Lena smiles back.

"Okay, but," Kara hesitates. "I still kind of want to do the dishes first, if that's fine."

Lena shakes her head, giggling. "That's fine," she says.

So Kara does the dishes, and then they kiss more.


End file.
